I would like to send a great big “Thank you” to the South County Senior Center. Its director, Jennifer Remillard, and program coordinator, Sue Gorey, went above and beyond in welcoming Kathy Steinem and some of her Greenfield Senior Center Seated Chair Dance members on Wednesday, Jan. 4. It was my observation that their enthusiasm and friendliness showed how a senior center should be run.

Kathy Steinem may have been ousted unfairly by the “power that be” at the Greenfield Senior Center, but she is still on her feet. When the first article was in the Recorder, the South County Director reached out to see if she could be of assistance. There have been other centers and organizations that have offered facilities. In the future there will be more than one class a week.

Kathy was joined, along with the Greenfield contingent, by a number of South Deerfield seniors, at her first class. Most of these people signed up for more Wednesday classes. As one of the Greenfield Senior Center participants, it was nice to see how seniors should be treated. It was OK to tell a joke and it was OK to laugh. It was OK to sit and watch and not be ostracized for it. It was OK for a gentleman to get a chair for you. It was nice to see people coming in just to chat, have a snack or a cup of coffee. There was compassion and friendliness felt there.

Over the last month I have heard many horror stories and not one good word about the Greenfield Senior Center. As an example; a person, who was not a member of the Senior Center, but was a volunteer, under the auspices of another organization, using the facility, was told she was not doing her job correctly. There was a group using the John Zon Center, that was harassed so badly they found elsewhere to meet. What does that tell you? What happened to the “Friendly City of Greenfield”?

We are not a business, we are aging human beings who have earned the right to some happiness and fun before we leave this world.

Marilyn Pelis

Greenfield

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